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2016-17 NA3HL Season
This is the 2016-17 North American 3 Hockey League season. This is the leagues' 7th season under the NA3HL moniker and its 19th overall dating back to its founding as the Central States Hockey League in 1998. Membership changes The league announced that it would add the North American 3 Eastern Hockey League en masse as full members for the 2016-17 season. On May 22, 2016 a published report on the website http://thejuniorhockeynews.com/?p=61033%7Cthejuniorhockeynews.com indicated that the league had approved the addition of a team to be known as the Missoula Bruins. Missoula has been the home of the Missoula Maulers of the Amateur Athletic Union-sanctioned Western States Hockey League since 2007 (joining from the American West Hockey League in 2013 after being founded in the NorPac in 2007. Apparently, the Maulers organization had decided to disband earlier in the month due to a lease dispute with the Glacier Ice Rink's operators. On May 24, 2016 the NA3HL announced that the Minnesota Flying Aces franchise had been sold to the owners of the Brookings Blizzard and Alexandria Blizzard (Chris and Mitri Canavati). As part of the announcement of the sale, the team was relocating to the Willmar Civic Center Arena in Willmar, Minnesota for the 2016-17 season. The team would take the name Willmar WarHawks Also on May 24th, the league announced that the Sugar Land Imperials had been sold to the same group that purchased the Chicago Bulldogs a few days earlier, and would be relocated to College Station, Texas and would become known as the College Station Spirit. On May 26, 2016 the Wilkes-Barre Miners announced they were returning to Binghamton, New York and would be relabeled as the Binghamton Jr Senators which is the name the team had from 2005 to 2010 when the team was a member of the Atlantic Junior Hockey League. On March 18, 2017, the Lockport Express announced they would be relocating to the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion in Niagara Falls, New York for the 2017-18 season. The release stated that the organization would also be developing lower level teams along with the ownership of the new arena. The release stated that it was strictly a business decision and that there were no issues with the city or arena in Lockport. The team was renamed the Niagara Falls PowerHawks on April 6th. It was announced in April 2017, that the West Michigan Wolves were relocating to the The Summit Sports and Ice Complex in Dimondale, Michigan just outside of Lansing, Michigan and would be renamed the Lansing Wolves. On April 26, 2017 it was announced that the league had approved the sale and relocation of the Chicago Jr. Bulldogs to Wausau, Wisconsin for the 2017-18 season. The team was renamed the Wausau RiverWolves and will be based out of the Marathon Park Arena in Wausau. The new owners are also the owners of the New Ulm Steel. On May 4, 2017, the sale of the Lewiston/Auburn Fighting Spirit was announced. The team was renamed the Lewiston/Auburn Nordiques as an homage to the former Maine Nordiques who played in the North American Hockey League (1973-1977) out of the same arena. On, May 24, 2017 the Syracuse Stampede announced they were relocating to Oswego, New York and would be renamed the Oswego Stampede. The team will be based out of the Anthony J Crisafulli Arena in Oswego. On May 26, 2017, the league announced the sale and relocation of the Glacier Nationals from Havre, Montana to Butte, Montana where they will be known as the Butte Cobras based out of the Butte Community Ice Center. The Butte Amateur Hockey Association (BAHA) were the new owners of the team. The BAHA had recently been given ownership of the Butte Cobras franchise that has played in the Western States Hockey League (WSHL) since the 2014-15 season. The WSHL team is being moved to the NA3HL with the acquired franchise rights from the Glacier Nationals. On May 30, 2017, it was announced that the Euless Jr. Stars were sold and would be renamed the Mid-Cities Jr. Stars. Current Teams Standings Central Division East Division Frontier Division Midwest Division South Division West Division Coastal Division Northeast Division Playoffs Format With the exception of the Frontier Division, the top four teams in each division will qualify for the playoffs. The top six teams qualify from the Frontier Division. All division based series are best of three. The eight diivsion champions advance to the Silver Cup Championship Tournament which will be held March 29-April 2, 2017 at the Canlan Ice Sports Arena in Romeoville, Illinois. The eight division winners will be paired off into two pools of four teams based on regular season point totals. Each team play the other teams in their pool once. The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinals with the first place team playing the second place team from the other pool on April 1st. The semifinal winners meet in the championship game on April 2nd. Frontier Division Quarterfinals *Gillette Wild defeated Helena Bighorns 2 games to 1 *Bozeman IceDogs defeated Missoula Bruins 2 games to none Frontier Division Semifinals *Yellowstone Quake defeated Bozeman IceDogs 2 games to none *Great Falls Americans defeated Gillette Wild 2 games to none Central Division Semifinals *North Iowa Bulls defeated Rochester Ice Hawks 2 games to none *La Crosse Freeze defeated Wisconsin Whalers 2 games to 1 Coastal Division Semifinals *Long Beach Sharks defeated Northeast Generals 2 games to none *New England Stars defeated Cape Cod Islanders 2 games to 1 East Division Semifinals *Metro Jets defeated West Michigan Wolves 2 games to 1 *Pittsburgh Vengeance defeated Toledo Cherokee 2 games to 1 Midwest Division Semifinals *St. Louis Jr. Blues defeated Cincinnati Thunder 2 games to none *Peoria Mustangs defeated Nashville Jr. Predators 2 games to none Northeast Division Semifinals *Binghamton Jr. Senators defeated Roc City Royals 2 games to none *Jersey Shore Wildcats defeated Syracuse Stampede 2 games to none South Division Semifinals *Texas Jr. Brahmas defeated Point Mallard Ducks 2 games to 1 *Atlanta Capitals defeated Euless Jr. Stars 2 games to none West Division Semifinals *Granite City Lumberjacks defeated Breezy Point North Stars 2 games to none *New Ulm Steel defeated Alexandria Blizzard 2 games to 1 Frontier Division Final *Yellowstone Quake defeated Great Falls Americans 2 games to 1 Central Division Final *North Iowa Bulls defeated La Crosse Freeze 2 games to none Coastal Division Final *Long Beach Sharks defeated New England Stars 2 games to 1 East Division Final *Metro Jets defeated Pittsburgh Vengeance 2 games to 1 Midwest Division Final *St. Louis Jr. Blues defeated Peoria Mustangs 2 games to 1 Northeast Division Final *Binghamton Jr. Senators defeated Jersey Shore Wildcats 2 games to none South Division Final *Atlanta Capitals defeated Texas Jr. Brahmas 2 games to none West Division Final *Granite City Lumberjacks defeated New Ulm Steel 2 games to 1 Silver Cup Round Robin March 29th *Metro Jets defeated Granite City Lumberjacks 3-0 *St. Louis Jr. Blues defeated Atlanta Capitals 4-2 *Binghamton Jr. Senators defeated Long Beach Sharks 8-1 *Yellowstone Quake defeated North Iowa Bulls 4-2 March 30 *Atlanta Capitals defeated Metro Jets 3-2 *Granite City Lumberjacks defeated St. Louis Jr. Blues 4-3 *Yellowstone Quake defeated Long Beach Sharks 5-2 *North Iowa Bulls defeated Binghamton Jr. Senators 3-2 (ot) March 31 *Metro Jets defeated St. Louis Jr. Blues 5-3 *Granite City Lumberjacks defeated Atlanta Capitals 5-2 *Yellowstone Quake defeated Binghamton Jr. Senators 3-2 *North Iowa Bulls defeated Long Beach Sharks 8-4 Silver Cup Semifinals April 1 *Granite City Lumberjacks defeated Binghamton Jr. Senators 3-2 *Metro Jets defeated Yellowstone Quake 6-1 Silver Cup Final April 2 *Granite City Lumberjacks defeated Metro Jets 2-1 References Category:2017 in hockey Category:NA3HL seasons